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The Knot vs Wedding Wire

To help you find the Best Wedding Planning Guides, TopConsumerReviews.com provides you with an in-depth comparison of The Knot and Wedding Wire.

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Where can you find the best wedding planning guides? When the big question has been popped and the answer is an enthusiastic "YES", you need to start planning. Whether you're imagining a small, romantic destination wedding at an exotic locale or a huge church ceremony with a few hundred - or thousand - friends and family members, there's a lot that goes into the decisions between now and "I do".

There are a wide range of websites offering to take the stress out of that process by helping you with everything from theme possibilities to recommended vendors like photographers and caterers in your area. The best wedding planning guides include a jaw-dropping array of tools that let you manage your guest list and RSVP's, track your budget, and keep track of your extensive to-do list - usually through a convenient app that you can
access anytime, anywhere.

Wedding Planning Guide Reviews

The Knot is one of today's most popular online wedding planning guides. They offer "planning for everyone" and want to give you a warm "welcome to your day, your way".

One thing we love about The Knot is how inclusive the service is. They have a very clearly spelled-out non-discrimination policy for all couples and every vendor listed on their site. No matter who you are or who you love, you'll find encouraging, positive resources on The Knot. Here are some of the cool articles we found:

8 African-American Wedding Traditions

Traditional Wedding Vows from Various Religions

7 Romantic Readings for an LGBTQ+ Ceremony

How to Plan a Bilingual Wedding All Your Guests Will Understand

In late 2018, The Knot was purchased by our #3-ranked Wedding Planning Guide, Wedding Wire. But, at least at the time of our most recent evaluation, the two platforms offered slightly different features, so it's worth checking out both sites. That may change in the future, if the decision is made to merge both sites into a single, fully-featured service that gives you access to the full range of options offered by
each one.

Here are the main features that make The Knot so popular:

Wedding "Vision": this is where the platform walks you through the beginning stages of planning your wedding. Start with their Wedding Style Quiz, then start choosing options like themes and colors and clarifying what you want your wedding to look like - so that the vendors you choose are all on the same page with what you have envisioned.

Checklist: use The Knot's pre-designed checklist to begin, then add your own to-do list for whatever you need to customize. You can add notes and other details to keep yourself on track.

Wedding Website: with more than 100 designs to choose from, you'll create the perfect place to keep all of your guests informed. This is where you'll keep your RSVP's, help people find hotel rooms, and even share photos after the big day.

Vendors: we were impressed with the range of options available in The Knot's vendor database, and we loved that we could see at a glance how many guests each venue could accommodate, a price range, and the number of stars/reviews they had. Sorting filters on the left side make it even easier to only see those vendors that match your needs.

The Knot's gift registry is similar to the one on their sister site, Wedding Wire: you can choose gifts from any online store, easily sync to your wedding website, and let your guests shop easily and conveniently for the things you really want. One unique feature, however, is The Knot's Cash and Experiences registry. Especially if you're combining two households with your marriage, you may not need more stuff. Maybe
what you really want is cash for home renovations, a puppy, or dance lessons. This registry is only limited by your imagination!

The Knot Gifts Back is another attractive feature when using this wedding planning guide for your gift registry. Every time a gift from your registry is purchased from a participating retailer, a percentage of that purchase is donated to one of over 100 charitable organizations.

And, if you need inspiration for the right dress/tux, rings, decor and more, just browse to the top of the page. You'll find lots of helpful articles, photos and tips under the Photos and Ideas & Advice headings.

The only thing keeping The Knot out of our top ranking is its functionality. While this platform works flawlessly for most users, we found some complaints that the site and the app were "buggy", and that getting help from customer service at The Knot was not exactly easy. A few others said that they had issues with The Knot's RSVP function.

Other than that, The Knot offers a suite of world-class features designed to make planning your wedding as joyous and stress-free as you like. We recommend the site as one of our favorite wedding planning guides.

When it comes to the best, most comprehensive Wedding Planning Guides, Wedding Wire gets the bronze medal. In December 2018, Wedding Wire acquired our #2 ranked Wedding Planning Guide, The Knot. At least at the time of this review, the two services were still operating separately and with slightly different features on each platform.

So, what does Wedding Wire have to offer? Almost everything you could want, from the ultimate Wedding Checklist to drag-and-drop seating charts and much more. And, of course, it's all free to use, either on their traditional website or through their handy app.

Let's take a closer look at the top features you'll get when using Wedding Wire as your Wedding Planning Guide.

Checklists: add, edit, or delete any to-dos you need, or simply follow the premade checklist. You can easily see your progress, the next items needing attention, and how much you've already gotten done.

Budget: know how much you have to spend? Great! Wedding Wire will estimate how much you have to spend on each category (for example, attire, food, and venue). Use the platform to track your spending, as well as to manage vendor payments. You can customize your budget based on your needs and seamlessly monitor your costs.

Vendor Manager: find and hire vendors directly through the app or online platform. You can mark favorite vendors, compare them with each other with respect to reviews and pricing, and even add your own notes as needed. Wedding Wire's vendor database is extensive and came up with plenty of hits in most areas.

Guest List: import people from your contacts and/or add them one by one. You can quickly manage all of the details from dinner choices to "plus ones". Organize your guests by category (besties vs. exes?), sort with one click, and even collect all of your RSVP's as your guests give you a "yes" or "no" through your…

Wedding Website: create your unique site in just a few minutes. You can use the site to recommend local accommodations (and even offer special rates to your guests), add your gift registry, and keep everyone updated on all of the events leading up to and including the Big Day.

Seating Chart: this might be our absolute favorite part of using this Wedding Planning Guide. Create your floorplan - don't forget to map out the tables, dance floor, and anything else in your venue that's important (or in the way) - and drag-and-drop people from your guest list into their seat assignment. (Remember those besties and exes? Yeah, you might not want them at the same table. Or on the same
side of the room.)

Gift Registry: Keep all of your registries in one spot. Wedding Wire makes it super-easy to sync with your gift registries from multiple retailers - so whether you've asked for camping gear from REI, cleaning supplies from Target, or the place settings you've had your eye on at Crate & Barrel, your friends and family can get one-stop shopping through your wedding website.

And yes, this planning guide has all of the tips and inspiration you'd get on other wedding-focused sites. Need ideas for dresses or rings? Not sure where to go on your honeymoon? You'll find tons of suggestions, including photos from real weddings, under the Dresses and Ideas links at the top of the page.

Wondering why Wedding Wire comes in third when compared with our first-place choice? It all comes down to user reviews. Most of the people who tried both Zola and Wedding Wire said that Zola's template options and designs for wedding websites were much more visually appealing. One person said that the user interface for Wedding Wire was much more advanced, and that the wedding sites available on WW "look like the
web pages of 2005". (Interestingly, those comments were found on a user forum...on Wedding Wire! Kudos to WW for openness and transparency.)

That being said, Wedding Wire is still an excellent choice if you're looking for a one-stop shop for all of your wedding planning needs. Unless something changes in the future, Wedding Wire will probably remain tied with its new sister company, The Knot, with a very respectable 4.5-star rating.

You can also get inspiration and advice from real couples. Thinking of having a wedding in the woods during winter? Check out what other brides and/or grooms did - and maybe even get practical tips for staying warm and keeping everyone from getting wet! Not sure how to navigate tricky family dynamics, which friends to invite to be in the wedding party, or how to word an invitation that includes everyone? Most
of these wedding planning guides have in-depth advice and answers to guide you.

You've got a lot on your mind already, so how can you tell which online wedding planning guide is the right fit for you and your significant other? Here are several factors to keep in mind as you consider what's available:

Cost. Most online wedding planning guides don't charge to use the service. If you're interested in a paid planning tool, will you get enough value out of what you pay to make it a better choice than a free option?

Services Offered. What kind of help or advice are you looking for? Do you need an all-in-one site that gives you access to an app, checklists, plus ideas and inspiration for everything from flowers to food? Or maybe you're just at the beginning stages of planning and want to know if there are any available venues in your area? Choose a wedding planning guide that fits your needs.

Inclusivity. If you're planning a non-traditional wedding, can you find resources on the site? Are there couples and stories that you can identify with that are featured in the photos and articles?

Use of Technology. With so much of today's world online, it makes sense that more couples are taking advantage of fully-featured tech tools to streamline their wedding planning. Are you interested in having an app that you (as well as friends and family) can use to update RSVP's, list and/or buy items on a gift registry, and more? Not every wedding planning guide offers that capability.

TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best Wedding Planning Guides available today. We hope this information helps you create and plan the best wedding you've ever dreamed of!

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